# In my foolish youth, I said "Country Music sucks". Now I know better. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 2, 2018, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870 "2018-11-02T00:52:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/41 "2018-11-02T15:11:52Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > The whole “simple values” (being rural, simplistic, and likely white) and “emotions” (loving America, your dog, truck, and America in that order and sadness at losing your woman) canard about country music really rubs me the wrong way. You know what happens when you play C&W backward, don’t you? You get your dog, your wife, and your pickup back. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/42 "2018-11-02T15:34:06Z")
I must not know what CM actually \*is \*because I really like three out of the first four songs listed in the OP, with the one I don’t like (intensely) being \* Forever Young _, which is the kind of thing I think of when I think of “Country music”. If Shawn Colvin’s version of \* Crazy_ counts as Country, then count me in. I think for me the deal breaker is the twang part. If it’s an especially beautiful melody or the lyrics really touch me, I can get over it but otherwise it grates on my nerves to the point that I find it unbearable. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/43 "2018-11-02T15:42:15Z")
I used to say that country sucked, but then I realized that I just didn’t much like the modern-day (1990s and later) country that was in effect twangy pop music and which glorified a rural lifestyle that I have no connection to. It’s like a watered-down, hicked-up version of the old stuff. Older country is not my favorite, but I do have a lot of respect for it and enjoy some of it a lot. I also like some americana and modern country acts that aren’t quite so poppy. I agree that pretty much even the best country walks that tightrope between sublime and appalling in a way that no other genre does. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/44 "2018-11-02T15:48:15Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > DBT, Old 97s, and I’ll go ahead and offer The Bottle Rockets, to round out the Alt-Country triumvirate. Old 97s and Bottle Rockets are great! [Old 97s - Timebomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is83WB7Ue1Y) [Bottle Rockets - Dog](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1vfWjRxo1Y) ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/45 "2018-11-02T15:50:20Z")
> [@DrCube](#): > > DBT, Old 97s, and I’ll go ahead and offer The Bottle Rockets, to round out the Alt-Country triumvirate. Speaking of DBT, in my earlier post I neglected to mention Jason Isbell, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite artists in recent years. **control-z** mentioned Turnpike Troubadours. I saw a show this summer with Isbell & the 400 Unit, Turnpike Troubadours, and Old 97s. It was a great show other than the fact that it was outdoors and over 100° when the show started, and Old 97s only got to play for about 40 minutes. Another “Americana” act that I don’t think anyone has mentioned yet… Lucinda Williams. Her last few albums have been fantastic. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/46 "2018-11-02T16:12:13Z")
As a wise man once told me “Country Music is like cholesterol: there is the good kind, too” > [@terentii](#): > > You know what happens when you play C&W backward, don’t you? I heard it as You get your dog, your wife, your job, and your truck back, but you lose Jesus ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/47 "2018-11-02T16:34:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > I hated it back in the 60s. Nowadays, though, country music is just country rock like Poco or the Eagles. Not a fan (except for Lyle Lovett), but I don’t hate it any more. How about [The Flying Burrito Brothers](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMWCxt8ABNg)? Founded by Gram Parsons & Chris Hillman in '68. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/48 "2018-11-02T17:03:39Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > [His cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom is an amazing interpretation.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpDYfkymaSE) Wow. This is a fantastic interpretation, and an excellent video too. Really well done. I like some modern country, specifically the Zac Brown band. Some of their lyrical content may dip a toe into the trite country pool, but they are such good players and their vocal harmonies are outstanding, like on songs “Colder Weather” or “Goodbye In Her Eyes”. I’ve seen them live and their medley of “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” seguing into “Enter Sandman” was highly entertaining. I also like the band Iron Horse. They’re a bluegrass outfit known for their excellent rock covers. Their version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is excellent. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/WdAyO1_0noM/maxresdefault.jpg "Rocketman // Iron Horse") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdAyO1_0noM) ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/49 "2018-11-02T17:16:05Z")
Grace Potter. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/50 "2018-11-02T17:30:48Z")
[quote=“FoieGrasIsEvil, post:48, topic:823870”] I also like the band Iron Horse. They’re a bluegrass outfit known for their excellent rock covers. Their version of Elton John’s “Rocket Man” is excellent. [/QUOTE] Bluegrass-style rock covers? [Hayseed Dixie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHGychJeyM), originally an AC/DC tribute band. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/51 "2018-11-02T18:53:21Z")
I used to disdain Country music, then I moved to Nashville about 18 years ago - it took me awhile, but I’ve come around to it. Not the treacly pop stuff but like folks say, the stuff around the edges and the classics - Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard, but also the Avett Brothers, Old Crow Medicine Show and Civil Wars. I even started to play mandolin! Iris DeMint consistently brings me to tears, especially [“Go On Ahead and Go Home”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfhBHu6yFQA) and [“The Night I Learned How Not to Pray.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3YuQ8CIy0) ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/52 "2018-11-02T18:55:56Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Bluegrass-style rock covers? [Hayseed Dixie](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EoHGychJeyM), originally an AC/DC tribute band. Or, if you’re more into bluegrass-style 80’s pop covers, [Love Canon](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_FGNvdFW5Q). ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/53 "2018-11-02T20:49:18Z")
Where I grew up, the middle school yearbook had a poll that was pretty much evenly divided between liking: [ul] [li]Rap[/li][li]Rock[/li][li]Both[/li][li]“Anything but country”[/li][/ul] I held that attitude for a long time, then I realized that it was mostly the mainstream stuff, which sucks more than other mainstream genres do. Blake Shelton seems like a very nice guy but his music is atrocious. I’ve been listening to a lot of sort of peripheral alt-country/folk punk stuff lately. And Marty Robbins, who I guess is the [other kind of music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vS-zEH8YmiM&t=27s). > [@Jophiel](#): > > I used to think that country sucked but really it’s the “God bless America, we simple folk are so much more pure than those city mice” trash that sucks. Once you get out of that treacle pit, you can find some decent stuff, be it country or something country-adjacent. [Bo Burnham on modern country music](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPTKR12cUqc). > [@Skammer](#): > > Iris DeMint consistently brings me to tears, especially [“Go On Ahead and Go Home”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfhBHu6yFQA) and [“The Night I Learned How Not to Pray.”](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BA3YuQ8CIy0) I love depressing music, and she never disappoints. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/54 "2018-11-02T21:07:53Z")
There are two different genres of music called “country”, and so far as I can tell the only thing they have in common is that the performers wear broad-brimmed hats. It’s an endless source of frustration for me, because folk country is one of my favorite genres, while pop country is one of my least-favorite. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/55 "2018-11-02T21:37:32Z")
A few months ago, I stumbled on an artist I really liked: A hot blonde country rocker with an attitude. She sang upbeat songs generally along the lines of “Don’t you dare mess with me!” but I cannot remember her name. Can anyone tell me who I’m thinking of? I know she’s on YouTube, but I can’t find her without her name. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/56 "2018-11-02T22:14:29Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > In my foolish youth, I said “Country Music sucks”. Now I know it holds true. Indeed. I consider “country music” to be just this side of an oxymoron. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/57 "2018-11-02T22:16:29Z")
Brother Dege, [Too Old To Die Young](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQNFcYvILJE). If you like mean, dirty slide guitar, he’s your man. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/58 "2018-11-02T22:19:03Z")
“Country music” is even more useless as a genre than most as it really indicates a target demographic than anything about the music. Not that unique though as “new wave” was just a new term for what people were calling “punk” back in the day but made it marketable. Traditional “country” is just a fusion of various European folk music, jigs and polskas with some blues modes mixed in. The Irish _The Unfortunate Rake_ or the English _Spanish Ladies_ became the country song _The Streets Of Laredo_ and the jazz standard _St. James Infirmary Blues_ Like rap or blues my main problem with non-pop country is looking past the lyrics and social commentary. Johnny Cash, Chuck Berry, and Elvis Presley all were highly inspired by Sister Rosetta Tharpe which just goes to show that genres are more about marketing than the music. This video shows why outside of the themes why modern pop country sucks, it is the same chord progression and formula with less diversity than the above noted songs. Unfortunately "western" music got rolled into "country" because at least in my experience the lyrics were less likely to be "the south will rise" directed. As an example from Chris LeDoux who was _western_ and from Wyoming. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/vQPRFqWPWgE/hqdefault.jpg?sqp=-oaymwEmCOADEOgC8quKqQMa8AEB-AG-AoAC8AGKAgwIABABGGQgZShTMA8=&rs=AOn4CLBoRrz8CTR3YbDvZJTeqgczde7_cA "Chris LeDoux-This Cowboy's Hat") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQPRFqWPWgE) But yap ignore the marketing labels and find what you like! ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/59 "2018-11-02T22:44:45Z")
I’ll just throw in some Goth Americana for the weird folk: [Jay Munly - The Leavening of the Spit-Bread](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqbtZAARH0A) ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870/60 "2018-11-02T23:34:22Z")
I had a beer with Willie Nelson once. > [@Beckdawrek](#): > > Drive by Truckers are awesome. Not Country! :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-my-foolish-youth-i-said-country-music-sucks-now-i-know-better/823870.md?page=4)